Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I've been dreading posting about some of the hardest parts of mommyhood but... I feel like I need an outlet and some encouragement!

We have been so busy Norah's whole life and sometimes I feel bad. She's been on 14 airplane rides in her 10 months and is due for 6 more in the next few weeks. She's really been great at adapting and is almost always so happy. We've really struggled hard with her sleeping though. I kept thinking here and there, when we were still in CO, that we had it down then I'd be proved wrong. I won't go into all the details but basically, I've read some books and advice online and asked friends and tried many different things and nothing has worked. Could it be that all our fun has caused her, as well as us, sleepless nights and aching hearts?

Her first nap she almost always goes down smoothly, like clockwork two hours after she wakes up. The second nap is a little more sketchy. Depending on if we have a day of errands or appointments she sleeps a little in the car or fights her nap when we're home. For bedtime, we've tried to keep a very simple routine followed by our countless tries to get her to slumber. We've rocked her, swayed he, bounced her and rubbed her back. We've let her "cry it out" a few times and once we did that for a week and every day of that week she cried for at least an hour (of course we were checking in on her every 10 minutes at the most).

I have cried more tears over this issue than any other thing in her life so far. It's so exhausting and frustrating for us and you can see she is just as frustrated. So many times I've tried to figure out what we are doing wrong or what is wrong with her! Is it teething? Does she need a sound machine? Are we too accommodating? Are our soothing measures to get her to sleep going to backfire in two years when we still have to woo her to sleep?

Due to my back pains David is so faithful at getting her in the night for feedings, lifting her out of her crib and setting her back in but, even just the times I have to stand there and sooth her to sleep I can tell my back feels the pain. More than anything, I want to be the one who soothes her but is this where tough love comes in? It's just hard because we feel like she should be growing out of this now but... she hasn't. Another part of this process that is hard is just not being surrounded by friends. I really wish we were in CO so I could talk to my mom friends and get their feedback and support as well as prayers. Life is changing so much for us!

Honestly, the move hasn't been emotional or hard yet. I think we've been going going going so much still that it hasn't quite hit us that we are the new ones again. We are going to have a few months of loneliness and that it will take a few months until someone really KNOWS us. We are praying that during this time all these things just draw us nearer to the Lord. Thanks for listening and thanks for your prayers too!

Monday, August 16, 2010

The inside of our new house isn't really ready for the www yet but here's a sneak peak at the exterior! We miss all of you people in IL, MN and CO but if you are willing to come to WA for a visit we have a bed for you.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

We were so blessed to head to WI for a week and a half to spend time with the Blomgrens and the Moselles. We had so much fun relaxing and spending time with our awesome families! Here's a taste of our time at Kolnes Kove!

Norah loved the sliding windows and would scoot over to them whenever possible. She played this game where she sucked the window?! Silly girl!

Nana reads with Norah

AJ and Norah both about to take naps!

Out for a delish breakfast

The almost newlyweds!!

Dad & AJ enjoying time with family of course!

Having fun in the lake and trying a little synchronized swimming (not pictured) :)

Book & boatin' it!

Out for another great breakfast with the Blomgrens

Still in love after 5 years!!

Grandpa Chuck and Norah driving the pontoon!

Grandma Karen was so great on the boat. She held Norah and soothed her to sleep while we played in the water!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Our last camping trip in CO we ventured out with some friends near the Collegiate Peaks on Cottonwood Pass. It was a great weekend away and we enjoyed some wonderful company too! We decided to really rough it this time and rented a pop-up trailer. It was so fun and comfortable to stay in the trailer. It was also very nice to have some heat during the nights since the temps got down to around 40 degrees! Brrrr!